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Jim Proffit's1939 GMC |
21
December 00 UpdateFine job for a Stovebolt -- and Stovebolter -- editor
Hi John,
Here's photos of the shop truck.
It is a bit of a hot rod, but mostly period stuff. Except
for the disc brakes, cruse control and such.
I got my truck in 1989 in original almost junk but driveable
condition. As I used it for the next few years, I made a list of things -- such
as the lack of braking force, the many stops due to clogged fuel line (you can
use the choke inner cable to ream the line clear, provided the knob is tight).
The was the engine screamed like a 450 Pratt at 
50
mph. Those kind of things. It was fun but slow. Once I took the valve cover
off to adjust the valves, it took a lot of effort to get the thing off and inside
looked like someone had melted a bowling ball inside and it had set up! One
day the u-joint broke! Once fixed, the pinion brg went from round to square!
I took the whole thing down to bare and started over.
The first rebuild included a hotted-up 228, Volvo overdrive
gearbox, Nissan disc brakes on the stock axle, a fuel cell out back. I never
like being the first one to the fire! To fix the rearend problem a 55 Chevy
truck dropout was bolted in. Now it would do cruse at 2200 rpm. A buddy of mine
has new 302 GMCs so last year after driving the truck cross country, I did that
along with a Ford TOD trans. It will do 85 no problem. In the photos you see
Nicson intake and headers ... Fenton is for Chevys. It's got an Isky cam. The
truck has an AC102 long wheel base and long bed 1/2 ton. A full flow oil filter.
A Mallory dual point dist. A Steward Warner Tach drive .. It's stock for Calif.
My dad always let us hop-up the truck! Thanks for saying my
truck looked clean,but you haven't seen my DIAMOND T !!
We drove this truck to the national convention AHTS last year.
Keep up the good work
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